Mr. V.Ganesharajah, our Principal was the Chief Guest at the event. He arrived in UK last Thursday and was received at the Heathrow Airport by the Secretary Mr.Theeparaj and Sports Committee Leader Mr.Premkumar.

Though the weather was very bad on Saturday, well over 350 people participated at the event and enjoyed the evening with DJ.

The function started with a cultural Bharathanatiyam dance and followed by welcome address. Mr.Vivekanandan, President JHCA UK (Charity) delivered the welcome speech.

Mr. Vivekanandan expressed his pleasure in meeting all the people after a long time; the annual event was not held last year due to the tragedy in our motherland created by war.

He thanked the Principal for accepting their invitation and coming all the way from Jaffna to attend the event and gracing the occasion as the Chief Guest of the evening.

The President's speech in detail:

Mr. Vivekanandan, President JHCA UK (Charity) pointed out the many achievements of the college in academic and in other activities including sports during the last five years under the able guidance and excellent administration of the Principal.

He noted the ideas expressed by the Principal at the previous day's discussion to develop the school. The Principal wanted to start a 'Resource Centre' at the college and through that wanted to improve the student's English knowledge, presentation skills and other abilities.

On behalf of JHCA UK (Charity), the President assured their association's support in this endeavour.

He also wished the Principal to continue his untiring service to the college and take the college to new heights in the international level.

In his speech, Mr.Vivekanandan also mentioned the support their charity has extended over 8 years to the college and the society. He said that their charitable trust has funded over £55,000 worth projects in North Sri Lanka.

He thanked all those who have come forward to serve the society at a time of need and those who have guided the trust to do these.

He said that service to community and college should be done with "pride not for publicity" and as a unified force. "We hope the new year will bring that hope," he added.

He used the opportunity to honour the sports teams and individuals who have contributed to the sports and act like ambassadors of the college. He also wished this year's award recipients, who made the college proud.

Mr.Vivekanandan during his speech introduced his team members; V.Theebaraj, T.Yathavan, K.Sivajee, N.Jayasealan, M.Ramanan, S.Sbesan, P.Premkumar, A.Brandthapan, D.Arudkumar & Jeyarajah and thanked them for their dedicated and committed efforts to make this event successful. He also paid his tribute to late Kamalan, who was missed by the family, friends and fellow Hinduites due to his untimely demise at a young age. He announced a 'Kamal Award' for college sports from next year in honour of Kamalan's service to our community.

Outlining next year's plan of the Charity, Mr.Vivekanandan mentioned their plan to open a sports academy, run by public & private partnership to provide professional training in cricket, football and other sports. The charity also plans to host a cultural event called 'நம் காற்று' in August.

Before ending his speech, he thanked the other international OBAs who have given overwhelming support and well wishes to JHCA UK (Charity) and urged the audience to strengthen their hands and support them in all their endeavours for the betterment of the community and to make the college a leading international institution.

The proceeds collected through this event also will be used for the school development.

The Principal delivering his key note address thanked the old boys for their continued support for school development and their untainted devotion to the alma mater.

The Principal's Speech in detail:

The Principal in his speech compared the old boys to the roots of the huge banyan tree. They are the pillar of strength to the school, they will never let us down. Because of this strength and support they give, not only financial but also of the moral support they give, I was able to undertake development projects without any fear, he said.

He said the school is academically excelling at the national level; continuously maintaining 100% success at the GCE O/L examination results and sending highest number of students to state universities. In other activities also they are competing very well at national level with all odds, he said. He explained the financial constraints the school is facing in participating at many sports activities.

Talking about the vision and mission of the school, he said that though we don't have a separate written vision for the school, the poet who wrote the school hymn was visionary and has in-scripted the vision of the school "தமிழர்கள் தலை நிமிர் கழகமும் இதுவே" in the school song. This is our vision, our missions are aligned to this, he said.

More cultural programmes followed the speeches. The dance performances were very colourful and entertaining. They were performed by the students of Srimathy Rajini Shureshkumar from the Institute of KALABHARATH. The performers were: Aphisha Sivasuthan, Vanathi Gananendran, Aparna Sureshkumar, Angel Navajeevan, Luxmi Vallipuranathan, Keerthana Sritharan, Gowsalya Logeswaran, Sobia Sivarathan, Varshia Srivarathan, Gowsalya Kalatharan and Thivya Gandidasan,

Kalabharath had been associatiated with JHCA UK since last two occassions. The Organizing Committee expresses their thanks to Mrs Rajini Shureshkumar, Students, Make up artists & Parents and wish to continue this tie-up in the future too.

Jolly Stars Twenty20 award ceremony also took place at the event. Principal, Mr.V.Ganesharajah presented the trophies to the winners and at the same ceremony presented the Life-time Sports Achievement Award to Prabaharan (Sulthan).

The event was very successful and the organizing Committee was very excited at the grand success and thanked all those who were behind this success and the guests and well wishers for their continued support to the Association.

One of the main attraction of the event was the hall arrangement, the Organizing Committee sincerely appreciates Mr Karan & Team at 'Party in Style' for the lovely hall arrangement. Karen is an old boy of our College and his team has done it in style and all the guests exclaimed the colourful display on the table. Infact, they did it as a complement to the Association.

All the invitees and guests at the event were served with delicious 3 course meal. The Committee thanked the meeting place caters, Mr Rajan & Team for the delicious meal. This is the second year they were catering at this annual event and hope to continue this relationship in future too.

The committee sincerely thank Mr.Theepathas for his hospitality and generosity for accommodating the Principal at his Rising Star Hotel and hosting committee meetings. Theepathas is also an old boy of our college and sibling of Mr.Thebaraj, the cricket player & proprietor of Goldman Estate Agent and other various business ventures.

The committee also thank Mr Jeyaraja for his hard work on producing a Life time sports Achievements profile of Prabaharan (Sulthan) and wish him well in his future.